One of the early writers on American blacks was Julia Peterkin…. Peterkin's literary oblivion after mid-century has been found a puzzle by the few readers who have attempted to understand it….

Long before her death in 1961, Peterkin's works (Green Thursday, Black April, Scarlet Sister Mary, Bright Skin) had been largely ignored….

Julia Peterkin's serious face can be found peering out of the pages of The New York Times or Saturday Review during the 1920's. A reading of her books further defines her obvious sincerity in presenting a close description of the lifestyle of "gullah" blacks on a South Carolina plantation. Regardless of her intent to gain sympathy for her black characters, however, this white southern woman could not identify her sufficiently with her resources to write a completely realistic portrait of their lives.

While some critics of Peterkin's own time understood that she was trying to be objective...